In the next few months you are about to see a huge shift in the social media landscape. Google+ will release Google+ for Business and will begin to seriously challenge Facebook for the title of Social Media Network of choice. While Facebook has been out now for years, and amassed a massive following of users, Facebook has failed to capitalize and transform its service into a business platform.

There are a few key reasons why businesses need to care about Google+, and need to get ready with a Google+ business strategy immediately.

Search and Social Media

Up until recently, search has relied solely on algorithms and processes that can easily be “fixed”. Link baiting, hidden text, paid links, keyword stuffing, and more. These things allow a seasoned search engine optimization expert to easily game listings that appear in Google or other search engines.  With the evolution of social media, Google has been trying to evolve and put some weight on the search results based on social media parameters. Google tried partnering with Facebook, and tried with Twitter, but in the end Google did not have enough control over the stream of information to really come up with anything revolutionary. Google+ was born.

Google+ now allows Google to mine data and understand what friends mean to various users in some incredible new ways. So what does this mean to your business?

If you do not jump onto Google+ as a business, and your competitors do, you are going to appear nowhere in search results very soon. Google is currently in the process of modifying its algorithm to weight heavily in favor of social recommendations vs. the traditional link voting systems.

Google Map Integration

Have you ever used Google Maps?  Ok that was a joke.  Seriously though, Google Maps is one of the most popular mapping applications out there. Google+ for Business is going to give a huge advantage to businesses that want to get the most out of their listing on Google Maps. Check-In features, direct links to your Google+ Page, reviews that appear right on your Google+ Account.  Facebook simply can’t compete here.

Once you start getting into the details, you start to see why I have predicted strongly that within the next year, Google+ will become the standard in Social Media for Businesses.

Advertising

If you spend any money on Google AdWords, you should be excited about Google+.  Not only will you be able to target certain keywords, but you will now be able to target keywords, social dynamics, and demographic information.  The combination of Google Adwords with social advertising is going to blow away anything you have ever seen in advertising.  This is going to be one of the biggest gold rushes the internet has ever seen, not to mention that Google is about to be swimming a bunch of new cash.

Some Final Thoughts on Google+ For Business

Google+ is going to dominate the social media space for a long time to come.  Businesses are going to jump onto Google+ faster than you have ever seen before. When you add mobile and the fact that Android is selling hotter than the iPhone, and the NFC (Near Field Communication) to this whole mix, I start getting super excited! The amount of data Google is going to have on all of us in the next five years is going to be insane!  Skynet anyone?

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